Author

Jesse Raub

Jesse Raub is a writer for Serious Eats and has pieces published in Vulture, Edible Madison, and other publications. He moved from Chicago to the SASY neighborhood of Madison in 2021 and enjoys assimilating to his new, lake-based lifestyle. You can find him walking his dog in Yahara Place Park or bowling at Dream Lanes, and if you’re polite and introduce yourself, he might offer to drop off a loaf of sourdough bread to your front door.

Jesse's Latest Articles

A white kayak rests upside down on saddle horses in the grass by a stone building.

Summering in analysis paralysis

By Jesse Raub ● Microtones ● August 18, 2023

The pressure to maximize summer fun in Madison.

A collage shows the logos of several recent Madison apartment developments, including Humbucker Apartments, Ella, and The Standard, over a grainy background of an architectural drawing of a building facade.

A definitive grading of Madison apartment building names

By Jesse Raub ● Microtones ● July 28, 2023

Dude, we’re hum-bucking the standards when it comes to gentrified branding.

A photo illustration shows a paperback copy of Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing To Safety” held up in the foreground, with a residential Madison street and the shore of Lake Mendota visible in the background.

Depression-era Madison, meet Madison’s depressing housing market

By Jesse Raub ● Microtones ● June 2, 2023

Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing To Safety” tells an eerily familiar story about money and ambition in our city.

This illustration shows a man in a hot air balloon floating through a blue sky with fluffy clouds. But floating along with him are COVID-reminiscent mines. One is poking and could puncture the balloon.

Tired, sick, and invisible; or, how I learned to never stop worrying and love the mask

By Jesse Raub ● Politics ● May 22, 2023

As COVID-19 precautions continue to erode, immunocompromised people are left even more isolated without a path forward to normalcy.

A more lived-in Madison for Chloe Benjamin, and for her characters

By Jesse Raub ● Culture ● April 24, 2023

The novelist discusses her changing relationship with her adopted city, on and off the page.

A hardcover copy of the book Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor, featuring diagonal multicolored stripes across a black background and the title and author in italic capital letters, is shown in a photo with a snowy morning in Madison’s Orton Park in the background. Houses, bare trees, a blue sky, and a stretch of park path are visible in the photo's background.

The not-quite-grown-up Madison of “Filthy Animals”

By Jesse Raub ● Microtones ● February 3, 2023

Discovering the city with Brandon Taylor’s short-story collection as a companion.